Escorts in Park Lane, W1K: who is close, and how soon
Park Lane has buildings along one side only. From Marble Arch down to Hyde Park Corner every front door looks west, across two carriageways of traffic, to the open grass and plane trees of Hyde Park, and nothing on the far side stands between those doors and the weather. On a mild evening that openness is the whole charm of the address. On a wet or bitter one it decides how the evening ought to be planned: what stays dry, what the wind does, and where Park Lane escorts and their guests can still go on foot.
Rain alters her journey less than yours, because after dark she travels by taxi as she would to any address, and three of the women on the board have their homes in Mayfair, the district directly behind the lane. Rain or shine, the office's estimate runs to roughly an hour once it has confirmed, stretched a little when wet roads meet rush hour at the Hyde Park Corner end; her exact time follows in the chat, and every length is listed on the rates.
On the ground
Park Lane in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameW1K 1QA, W1K 1PN, W1K 1BE, W1K 7TN, W1J 7QY, W1J 7DR.
Nearest stations
Walking timeHyde Park Corner, 3 minutes. Marble Arch, 5 minutes. Green Park, 8 minutes.
Getting there
W1KTravel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to Park Lane
Who works here
On the board in Park Lane
The eight prints above are a first shortlist for Park Lane tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
Open to the west
London's prevailing wind comes from the south west, and on Park Lane it arrives having crossed the whole width of Hyde Park with nothing to slow it. In summer the trees take some of the force. In winter, with the planes bare, gusts come straight over the grass and along the frontage, and the spray thrown up from the dual carriageway does the rest. A wet night turns this pavement into one of the more exposed places in the West End to stand about in: a road to be driven along, or admired from a window, rather than strolled.
Note 03
Beneath the junction at the southern end
The southern end of the lane has a way under the traffic. Hyde Park Corner station has no building in use at street level: its entrances are all in the subways that run beneath the great junction, so a guest who comes by Underground surfaces close to the foot of the lane with only the last stretch under the open sky. On a filthy night that is the single most useful fact about arriving here.
Hyde Park Corner station is about three minutes on foot from Park Lane and Marble Arch about five, which on a wet evening is as long as anyone needs to hold an umbrella.
Note 04
Two carriageways and a planted strip
The lane was widened into a dual carriageway in the early 1960s, its new half laid over a strip taken from Hyde Park, and crossing it on foot now means two streams of traffic with a long planted reservation between them. In rain that crossing is where an umbrella earns its keep; on a windy night the reservation's trees are the only shelter halfway over. If dinner is on the Mayfair side and the evening ends on the same side, the crossing never has to be made at all, which is the simplest weather advice the lane has to offer.
Note 05
The shelter of the grid behind
Step one block east and the weather changes character. Park Street runs parallel to the lane behind its buildings, and the short streets that run east off it, Green Street and Deanery Street among them, are narrow and built up on both sides, so the wind that owns the lane loses most of its force within a few doors.
That is the useful geography for a wet evening: the lane is the view, and the Mayfair grid behind it is where a guest and his companion can actually go on foot, from one lit doorway to the next, with the rain more sound than obstacle. Mayfair, with Grosvenor Square at its heart, sits inside that sheltered grid.
Note 06
The park through a window
There is a good case for staying in and letting the weather perform. Rain over Hyde Park at dusk turns the far trees grey and then black while headlamps run below in two streams; fog, when it settles, shrinks the park to the nearest row of planes and the lamps along the lane. In midwinter the light has gone before five, so an evening booked for seven starts in the dark whatever the forecast says. An upper window on this side of the park is one of the few places in central London where bad weather is the view rather than an interruption to it.
Note 07
Cold, clear nights and the park gates
A dry, cold night is the lane at its best on foot. The gates along it, Grosvenor Gate and, further south, Stanhope Gate, open onto paths under the bare planes, and frost on the grass throws back what light there is. Wrap up, keep to the main paths and treat the park as a turn between dinner and the rest of the evening rather than a destination in itself; Hyde Park rewards a longer visit on a dry afternoon.
Note 08
Planning around a poor forecast
The working rule on a wet night is to decide early which side of the lane the evening belongs to, and keep it there. Dinner and everything after it under one roof, or both within the Mayfair streets behind, take the weather out of the plan altogether; dinner across town means a taxi each way on roads that slow in the rain. If a wet afternoon needs filling first, Marble Arch at the top of the lane opens onto Oxford Street and its department stores, where a couple of hours pass indoors without anyone checking the sky.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Park Lane
Asked most often
Park Lane, asked and answered
Is Park Lane pleasant on foot when it rains?
Which station keeps a guest out of the rain longest?
What does fog do to the outlook across Hyde Park?
Which side streets give shelter on a windy night?
Is a cold, clear night a good one for the park gates?
Should a wet evening stay on one side of the lane?
One zone either way
Next along from Park Lane
Last strip
Say a name and an hour
Write in with a length, a time and the zone you are staying in, and a name from the board comes back with a window attached. That is the whole of the arrangement.